Zak Crawley believes that England can repeat their Manchester batting blitz at The Oval and ruin Australia’s Ashes party

England can repeat their Manchester batting blitz at The Oval this week and poop Australia’s party, according to Zak Crawley – the man who led the way at Old Trafford.

Crawley believes he is batting better than ever after his 189 off 182 balls took Australia’s bowlers to the cleaners, before rain wiped out all but 30 overs of the last two days and cost England any chance of regaining the urn.

He said 2–2 would be a ‘fair’ summary of one of the most memorable Ashes series of all time, but admitted England were ‘pretty flat’ as they watched the rain wipe out all of Sunday. ‘We thought we’d get 50-60 overs on the last two days, and that would be enough, but we’ll never know.’

Instead, when the fifth and final Test begins in south London on Thursday, Crawley will focus on ruining Australia’s plans to win a series in this country for the first time since 2001.

‘We’re massively up for it,’ he said. ‘And as Stokesy says, we’re building as a team: this isn’t the end just because it’s the Ashes. It’s very much the start, hopefully.

Zak Crawley believes that England can repeat their Manchester batting blitz at The Oval

‘It felt we were getting on top of them, and if we’d won in Manchester it would have been very interesting. They’ve got some very good players and would have bounced back, but the momentum would have been with us, for sure.

‘We’ll play the same way, and know we can make a big score. When you feel in good form you just go with the flow – it feels natural and you’re not doing too much. The beauty of a five-Test series is you get a look at them, and work out tactics and nuances.’

By his own admission, the Old Trafford pitch suited Crawley’s strength against pace – so much so that Stuart Broad told him on the first day that he had him down to make 150.

Despite facing plenty of criticism during an England career which, until Old Trafford, left him with a batting average the wrong side of 30, Crawley is now the leading run-scorer in these Ashes with 385 – eight clear of Australian opener Usman Khawaja, despite facing 533 fewer deliveries.

He has scored those runs at a strike-rate of nearly 90 – quite a performance against a world-class Australian attack.

‘I feel I’m as good a player as I have ever been,’ he said. ‘I feel good about my game – I’ve just got to build on it. I have a bit more experience now, things to fall back on in different conditions. I feel I can kick on now.

‘Fast bowling suits my game. I have less time to think when they’re faster! But they are unbelievable bowlers and present different challenges.’

And Crawley insisted he would stick to his policy of avoiding social media, even if the feedback has improved.

Despite criticism during his career, Crawley is the leading run scorer in these Ashes with 385

England are monitoring the fitness of Chris Woakes, who is sore after playing the last two Tests

‘I was doing alright when I first went off social media,’ he said. ‘It was more about getting away from it, even the good stuff, because you can get carried away. I won’t be reading it now I’ve got runs. I’ll be keeping myself to myself, listen to close friends and family whose opinions of me as a cricketer and a person are the only ones I care about.’

England must win at The Oval to preserve their unbeaten series record under Stokes and Brendon McCullum, and deny Australia the victory they set their sights on this summer.

‘I think 2–2 would be fair,’ said Crawley. ‘Edgbaston could have gone either way, and they had the better of us at Lord’s. We probably deserved this one and Headingley could have gone either way. So I think 2–2 would be right. Hopefully we can get it.’

England, meanwhile, have named an unchanged 14-man squad for The Oval, but are monitoring the fitness of Chris Woakes, who feels ‘sore’ after playing the last two Tests.